The Adventure of the Luminous Lily
The Adventure of the Luminous Lily is the 9th short story in the collection Biggles - Charter Pilot , published in July 1943. The story also appeared in Boy's Own Paper in August 1943 under the title The Luminous Lily. In Charter Pilot, this story is preceded by The Adventure of the Musty Mammoth and followed by The Adventure of the Suspicious Volcano. The story was adapted in French for a comic strip and published in an album in the King in August 1970 where it had the title Le lys lumineux. In this adaptation, the characters of Biggles and his friends are replaced by Gimlet King and his commando comrades! Synopsis News of Japanese troops landing in Indo-China leads Ginger to tell his squadron mates of a trip Biggles and co. made there with Dr Augustus Duck in search of a lily flower which glowed in the dark. Plot (click on expand to read) Dr Duck persuades Biggles, Algy and Ginger to take him to Indo-China in search of a lily which was said to glow in the dark. According to native reports, the lily grew among the ruins of a temple on an island in the middle of a lake. After a search of several lakes, Biggles and co. finally discover the right one and go ashore on the island. They cut a way through thick jungle and reach the temple but find nothing but note that the place had a strange unpleasant smell. They decide to return to their aircraft before dark. Dr Duck believes that a luminous flower can more easily be seen at night but the others are not keen to go through jungle in the darkness. Biggles thus decides on a compromise--they would make their way to the temple again just before dawn. At the appointed time, our friends approach the temple and this time, they see a large group of luminous flowers in front of the temple. The flowers have strange properties. They have a very unpleasant smell, and their luminous glow fades away as soon as they are plucked. Dr Duck insists on at least collecting some lily bulbs to take home. Our friends begin digging but cannot seem to find the base of the plants where the bulbs are supposed to be. The hole gets deeper and deeper when suddenly millions of red worms spring out from the soil, "almost like an avalanche" or "as lava rolls out of a volcano". Our friends beat a hasty retreat to their aircraft pursued by the red tide, which fortunately for them, stopped at the water's edge. Our friends make their way to the coast where they call on a government official who has a story which partly explains what happened. Apparently there was once a village on the island which was threatened by a large number of crocodiles. The priests at the temple decided to dig a deep pit baited with a dead bullock. As anticipated, the crocodiles were attracted by the meat and fell into the hole. Unable to get out, they soon died. But this generated an unbearable smell and the priests and villagers decided to abandon the island for a healthier spot. According to Dr Duck, decaying matter could produce phosphorus and this could have explained the glowing lilies. The worms were also probably the result of the decaying matter. Characters Narrated story *Biggles *Algy *Ginger *Dr Augustus Duck 666 Sqn personnel in preamble *"Doc" Lorton *Bertie Lissie *Henry Harcourt Aircraft *Wanderer Places Visited *French Indo-China Research Notes References to the past Incongruities Chronology *Japanese troops landed in French Indo-China in July 1941.Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp, "Japanese Occupation of Vichy French Indochina - 1940-1941," Combinedfleet.com, accessed May 19, 2019, URL. See entries for 24-30 July 1941. Note that this was before Japan declared war on Britain and America. The purpose was to preposition troops for the invasion of Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. This event saves as a fairly reliable timeline fix. References Category:Short stories Category:Biggles short stories Category:Interwar era short stories